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Nonlinear spectroscopies employ multiple short coherent pulses to generate higher-order polarization signals. The rich degrees of freedom available for controlling the properties of each beam enable highly selective measurements in both the frequency and time domains. Despite their widespread use with optical pulses, nonlinear spectroscopies have been relatively unexplored in the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) or X-ray spectral regions due to the lack of strong coherent light sources until recently. The objective of this project is to develop nonlinear spectroscopies in these short wavelength regions. A table-top technique, attosecond FWM spectroscopy, has been successfully demonstrated, which utilizes a short attosecond XUV pulse and two noncollinear, few-cycle near-infrared pulses to generate background-free third-order polarization signals. The work detailed in this dissertation has broadened the scope of attosecond FWM spectroscopy and thus has taken the development of nonlinear spectroscopy in the XUV one step further. It includes the successful demonstration of probing ultrafast dynamics in molecules, such as O2 and CO2, and exploring the potential of non-resonant FWM process in a wave packet dynamic in Ar. Looking ahead, the upcoming implementation of attosecond FWM experiments at the carbon K-edge will offer new avenues for investigating chemically and biologically significant organic molecules with nonlinear spectroscopies. Ultimately, attosecond FWM spectroscopy will serve as a solid foundation for future explorations in nonlinear spectroscopy at short wavelength, opening doors to innovative applications in various scientific fields.

This chapter documents progress in the extensive area of supercontinuum (SC) generation research devoted to applications in telecommunications, including research into the different mechanisms of spectral broadening and their interplay, SC generation in various media and the most promising SC applications in fibre-based and free-space telecom

The precise characterization of ultrashort laser pulses has been of interest to the scientific community for many years. Frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG) has been extensively used to retrieve the temporal and spectral field distributions of ultrashort laser pulses. In this work, we exploit the high, broad-band nonlinear optical response of a WS2monolayer to simultaneously characterize two ultrashort laser pulses with different frequencies. The relaxed phase-matching conditions in a WS2monolayer enable the simultaneous acquisition of the spectra resulting from both four-wave mixing (FWM) and sum-frequency generation (SFG) nonlinear processes while varying the time delay between the two ultrashort pulses. Next, we introduce an adjusted double-blind FROG algorithm, based on iterative fast Fourier transforms between two FROG traces, to extract the intensity distribution and phase of two ultrashort pulses from the combination of their FWM and SFG FROG traces. Using this algorithm, we find an agreement between the computed and observed FROG traces for both the FWM and SFG processes. Exploiting the broad-band nonlinear response of a WS2monolayer, we additionally characterize one of the pulses using a second-harmonic generation (SHG) FROG trace to validate the pulse shapes extracted from the combination of the FWM and SFG FROG traces. The retrieved pulse shape from the SHG FROG agrees well with the pulse shape retrieved from our nondegenerate cross-correlation FROG measurement. In addition to the nonlinear parametric processes, we also observe a nonlinearly generated photoluminescence (PL) signal emitted from the WS2monolayer. Because of its nonlinear origin, the PL signal can also be used to obtain complementary autocorrelation and cross-correlation traces., QN/Kuipers Lab, QN/Quantum Nanoscience

Our project explores the emerging theories in quantum electrodynamics combined with nonlinear optical techniques (e.g., four-wave mixing) to enhance the quality of electron beams in XFEL technology.

Atom interferometer measurements are affected by the amount of quantum noise from the laser used to detect atoms. To improve the quantum limited sensitivity of interferometers, there needs to be a way to reduce the amount of quantum noise. Light is composed of two quadratures, where the product of the noise in each quadrature cannot be below a minimum threshold set by the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. However, the noise in one quadrature can be reduced at the expense of the other. This form of light is referred to as “squeezed light.” Squeezed light can be produced using four-wave mixing (FWM). Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is an interference phenomenon that occurs when a three-level atom is driven by a coherent field that makes a non-linear medium transparent to the probing field and holds a great deal of similarities to FWM. This thesis developed a theoretical framework that describes the measurement of atomic states and associated noise when quantum light is used to drive the atom and lays the groundwork to produce squeezed light through developing an experiment to produce EIT, as well as discussing the similarities between EIT and FWM to create and further study FWM for improved atom interferometry., DoD Space Agency, Captain, United States Marine Corps, Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited.

Compensation of Kerr nonlinearity-induced distortions has been shown to allow for increasing transmission rate and reach, with optical compensation techniques particularly attractive for broadband wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) scenarios. However, they normally require additional devices within the link, which is particularly challenging for already deployed systems, and even more so for unrepeatered transmission. In this work, we focus on providing lumped optical nonlinearity suppression, either at the transmitter or at the receiver side, based on optical phase conjugation (OPC). The theory to design scaled-down OPC compensation modules is derived, and it allows to move beyond the standard mid-link OPC approach and to explore compensation modules with fibers types not directly linked to the dispersion properties of the transmission link. This design method is then validated both through numerical investigations and experimental demonstrations for a number of systems with a varying degree of complexity. Ultimately, significant performance improvement is shown by employing short OPC-based compensation structures which are carefully designed to match much longer transmission links.

The precise characterization of ultrashort laser pulses has been of interest to the scientific community for many years. Frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG) has been extensively used to retrieve the temporal and spectral field distributions of ultrashort laser pulses. In this work, we exploit the high, broad-band nonlinear optical response of a WS2monolayer to simultaneously characterize two ultrashort laser pulses with different frequencies. The relaxed phase-matching conditions in a WS2monolayer enable the simultaneous acquisition of the spectra resulting from both four-wave mixing (FWM) and sum-frequency generation (SFG) nonlinear processes while varying the time delay between the two ultrashort pulses. Next, we introduce an adjusted double-blind FROG algorithm, based on iterative fast Fourier transforms between two FROG traces, to extract the intensity distribution and phase of two ultrashort pulses from the combination of their FWM and SFG FROG traces. Using this algorithm, we find an agreement between the computed and observed FROG traces for both the FWM and SFG processes. Exploiting the broad-band nonlinear response of a WS2monolayer, we additionally characterize one of the pulses using a second-harmonic generation (SHG) FROG trace to validate the pulse shapes extracted from the combination of the FWM and SFG FROG traces. The retrieved pulse shape from the SHG FROG agrees well with the pulse shape retrieved from our nondegenerate cross-correlation FROG measurement. In addition to the nonlinear parametric processes, we also observe a nonlinearly generated photoluminescence (PL) signal emitted from the WS2monolayer. Because of its nonlinear origin, the PL signal can also be used to obtain complementary autocorrelation and cross-correlation traces., QN/Kuipers Lab, QN/Quantum Nanoscience

Currently, the nonlinear optical properties of 2D materials are attracting the attention of an ever-increasing number of research groups due to their large potential for applications in a broad range of scientific disciplines. Here, we investigate the interplay between nonlinear photoluminescence (PL) and several degenerate and nondegenerate nonlinear optical processes of a WS2 monolayer at room temperature. We illuminate the sample using two femtosecond laser pulses at frequencies ω1 and ω2 with photon energies below the optical bandgap. As a result, the sample emits light that shows characteristic spectral peaks of the second-harmonic generation, sum-frequency generation, and four-wave mixing. In addition, we find that both resonant and off-resonant nonlinear excitation via frequency mixing contributes to the (nonlinear) PL emission at the A-exciton frequency. The PL exhibits a clear correlation with the observed nonlinear effects, which we attribute to the generation of excitons via degenerate and nondegenerate multiphoton absorption. Our work illustrates a further step toward understanding the fundamental relation between parametric and nonparametric nondegenerate optical mechanisms in transition-metal dichalcogenides. In turn, such understanding has great potential to expand the range of applicability of nonlinear optical processes of 2D materials in different fields of science and technology, where nonlinear mechanisms are typically limited to degenerate processes., QN/Kuipers Lab, QN/Quantum Nanoscience

Silicon core fibers represent a versatile platform for all-fiber integrated nonlinear optical applications. This paper describes the state of the art in four-wave mixing-based parametric amplification, and wavelength conversion in silicon fibers that have been tapered to improve the material quality, and engineer the dispersion profile. Fibers with submicron core dimensions have been fabricated, and used to demonstrate high gain parametric amplification in the C-Band, and broadband wavelength conversion extending out to the S-, and L-bands. The potential to use these fibers for all-optical signal processing of 20 Gbit/s data signals has also been demonstrated, with a robust all-fiber coupling scheme presented to improve the efficiency, and practicality of these devices. These results highlight the potential of silicon core fibers for use in nonlinear signal processing within future telecommunication systems., QC 20201130

Slot waveguides based on silicon-rich materials are proposed and experimentally demonstrated, which consist of a silicon-rich oxide (SRO) slot layer sandwiched by two silicon-rich nitride (SRN) layers. Measurements show the waveguides have a low propagation loss of ∼2.2 dB/cm and a 50-μ m-radius micro-ring resonator can achieve a loaded quality factor (Q) of ∼ 105. Four-wave mixing experiments in the slot waveguides reveal a high nonlinearity γ of 16 W-1 m-1 of the waveguide and an averaged nonlinear index n2 of 2.5 x 10-18 m 2/W of the silicon-rich materials, 10 times larger than that of stoichiometric silicon nitride (Si3N4). Supercontinuum generation (SCG) experiments have shown a large fabrication tolerance of such slot waveguides that 1.2 octave spectral broadening in a 1510-nm-wide slot waveguide can be achieved while that is 0.9 octave in a slot waveguide with a width shrinking as large as 220 nm.

In this work, we present a novel strategy to satisfying the nonlinearity compensation criteria by optical phase-conjugation (OPC). Contrary to the most common approach, which relies on tailoring power profiles using distributed Raman-amplification, we achieve the required OPC propagation symmetry through optimized dispersion management across the link. The method is applied to transmission systems with periodic lumped amplification, and the symmetry enhancement is directly translated into a substantial increase in the OPC compensation gains. This study is based on a numerical analysis combined with experimental validation of the findings. The numerical part provides a comprehensive overview of different dispersion management techniques, and compares them against the symmetric schemes we propose. It is consistently shown that the symmetry-optimized systems provide the best performance when OPC is included, with the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) gains reaching up to 6.6 dB and 5.2 dB for transmission of a single and seven wavelength channels, respectively. These results are verified in an experimental investigation, where we implemented and compared a standard dispersion mapping scheme to the optimized design. For all distances considered, the optimized link is demonstrated superior once OPC is included, leading up to 1.9 dB improvement in SNR for seven-channel transmission.

We study a variety of mechanisms that introduce noise into squeezed light generated by a four-wave mixing (4WM) process in Rb vapor. The noise from the seeding beam itself is a general noise that appears in any squeezed light generated from a seeding process. This noise dominates in the squeezed light at acoustic and lower measurement frequencies. A second excess noise source is observed in the twin beams pumped by either a diode laser system or a Ti:sapphire laser system. This excess noise is much stronger in the diode laser systems. It is present in the twin beams at measurement frequencies when the 4WM gain is reduced toward unity. Most of this excess noise can be removed with a dual-seeded 4WM scheme. A third noise source we examine is from a two-beam coupling that degrades the squeezing of the dual-seeded 4WM process at low frequencies of the order of the atomic transition linewidth. This noise can be avoided by seeding skew rays in the 4WM gain region. This gives us an insight to solve this "cross talk" problem by imaging the source in the 4WM gain region. In addition to studying noise sources, we propose a gain-independent calibration scheme that relies on higher order correlation function for the absolute calibration of photodiodes. Having low frequency squeezing is really important if we record quantum images with a CCD camera, which has a slow shutter speed. Also, it's been very difficult for people to get low-frequency squeezing. We obtain a record level of low-frequency squeezing using a simple dual-seeding technique. With this study of noise sources we are closer to having a portable quantum light source using diode lasers.

Optical communication using the 2 µm wavelength band is attracting growing attention for the sake of mitigating the information ‘capacity crunch’ on the way, where on-chip nonlinear waveguides can play vital roles. Here, silicon-rich nitride (SRN) ridge waveguides with different widths and rib heights are fabricated and measured. Linear characterizations show a loss of ~2 dB/cm of the SRN ridge waveguides and four-wave mixing (FWM) experiments with a continuous wave (CW) pump reveal a nonlinear refractive index of ~1.13 × 10−18 m2 /W of the SRN material around the wavelength 1950 nm. With the extracted parameters, dimensions of the SRN ridge waveguides are optimally designed for improved nonlinear performances for the 2 µm band, i.e., a maximal nonlinear figure of merit (i.e., the ratio of nonlinearity to loss) of 0.0804 W−1 or a super-broad FWM bandwidth of 518 nm. Our results and design method open up new possibilities for achieving high-performance on-chip nonlinear waveguides for long-wavelength optical communications.

Efficient frequency conversion is crucial for interfacing photons with a variety of quantum systems ranging from matter qubits (color centers, quantum dots, atoms), optical fibers, detectors, that often operate at widely different wavelengths. Frequency conversion is also a resource to process quantum information.1,2 Parametric processes such as sum frequency generation (SFG) and Bragg scattering four wave mixing (BS-FWM) offer a good versatility for such frequency conversion. It is well understood that those nonlinear processes have to be strong enough and satisfy phase matching to achieve a high conversion efficiency. While it is enough to consider those two aspects for moderate conversion efficiency up to 50%, the analysis is a bit more complicated when targeting efficiencies closely approaching unity. We are reviewing the pitfall that must be avoided to indeed reach near unity frequency transduction., SCOPUS: cp.p, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

An all-fiber integrated nonlinear silicon photonic wavelength converter has been proposed and fabricated using the silicon core fiber platform. The silicon fiber was spliced directly to a conventional single mode fiber, facilitated via an inverse tapered nano-spike that helped to reduce the mode mismatch between the different core materials. Four-wave mixing-based wavelength conversion with an efficiency as high as -22.1 dB has been achieved for selected wavelengths across the C-band in a device length of only similar to 1 cm. Successful conversion of quadrature phase-shift keying signals at a 20-Gb/s bitrate, with a 1 to 2 dB penalty level at the bit error ratio (BER) = 3.8 x 10(-3), was used to demonstrate the suitability of the silicon fiber device for the construction of ultra-compact, all-fiber-based optical signal processing systems., QC 20191015

In this work, we present a comprehensive experimental and numerical investigation of the impact of system parameters on wavelength converters based on four-wave-mixing, with focus on practical system implementations in addition to the interaction within the nonlinear medium. The input signal power optimization is emphasized according to the trade-off between the linear and the nonlinear impairments, and the origin of the limitations at the optimum is studied. The impact of the input signal quality on the converted idler is discussed, and depending on the dominant noise contribution a varying conversion penalty is demonstrated. The penalty is also shown to scale with increasing number of WDM channels due to additional nonlinear cross-talk between them. Finally, by means of numerical simulations we extend the experimental characterization to high pump powers, showing the impact of parametric noise amplification, and different pump laser linewidths, which lead to increased phase-noise transfer. The experimental characterization employs an integrated AlGaAs-on-insulator waveguide, and the numerical simulations accompany the results to make the analysis general for $\chi^{(3)}$ materials that satisfy the assumptions of the split-step Fourier method.

We realize an AlGaAs-on-sapphire platform through a Al$_2$O$_3$-assisted direct wafer bonding and substrate removal processes. The direct wafer bonding process is optimized concerning the intermediate layer deposition and annealing temperature to obtain a high bonding strength between the AlGaAs and sapphire wafers. High quality-factor (Q) microring resonators are fabricated using electron-beam lithography in which the charging effect is mitigated by applying an thin aluminum layer and a smooth pattern sidewall definition is obtained using a multi-pass (exposure) process. We achieve an intrinsic Q of up to $\sim$460,000, which is the highest Q for AlGaAs microring resonators. Taking advantage of such high Q resonators, we demonstrate an ultra-efficient nonlinear four-wave mixing process in this platform and obtain a conversion efficiency of -19.8 dB with continuous-wave pumping at a power level of 380 μW. We also investigate the thermal resonance shift of microring resonators with different substrate layouts and observe a superior thermal stability for devices in the AlGaAs-on-sapphire platform. The realization of the AlGaAs-on-sapphire platform also opens new prospects for AlGaAs devices in nonlinear applications in the mid-infrared wavelength range.

Correlated light generated from atomic ensembles can have a central role in prominent quantum information protocols, such as long-distance quantum communication. Here we present our studies on three topics involving the generation of correlated light with four-wave mixing (FWM) in a cold atomic ensemble for applications in quantum communications with high capacity. We experimentally investigate the generation of light with seeded FWM in cold cesium atoms and the time correlations of photon pairs generated with spontaneous FWM. We theoretically investigate the correlations in orbital angular momentum of photon pairs generated with spontaneous FWM for a range of experimental geometries. These studies represent foundational work toward the control and measurement of high-dimensional entanglement in the orbital angular momentum degree of freedom photon pairs for use in high-dimensional quantum communication.

In this dissertation, multimode optical fibers (MMFs) have been studied as a robust and practical platform for nonlinear optics and quantum optics applications, where by experimental investigations and theoretical calculations we present the quantum and nonlinear virtue of MMFs as a versatile tool for future applications. Our investigations can be summarized in three parts: At first, we have investigated stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) in a long MMF, where more than 20 orders of cascaded Raman peaks have been generated. Observation of beam clean-up despite the highly multimode nature of the fiber and such strong nonlinear interaction despite the large fiber core size are distinguishable results of our work. Next, we have studied four-wave mixing (FWM) via intermodal phase-matching in both step-index and graded-index MMFs (GIMFs). A rigorous and general approach in the theoretical study is presented where some of the commonly used, yet inaccurate approximations are avoided. Experimentally, FWM side-bands with minimal contamination from SRS, and residual pump photons have been generated from quantum vacuum and amplified more than 11 orders of magnitude. Finally, in the last part of this dissertation, we have done a theoretical study of photon-pair generation in a multimode optical fiber (both step-index and GIMF) via intermodal-FWM as a source of state-engineered photon-pairs.

We report on investigations of the carrier dynamics in graphene close to the Dirac point by nonlinear terahertz spectroscopy. At terahertz frequencies and low temperatures, optical-phonon scattering is suppressed. In this case, the decay of the pump-induced anisotropy in the carrier distribution is observed to be very slow, long as several ps, which is theoretically explained by non-collinear Coulomb scattering. In Landau-quantized graphene, degenerate four-wave mixing experiments in resonance to the lowest Landau level transition allow us to investigate the induced coherent polarization and to compare its dependence on THz field strength and B-field detuning with theoretical expectations.

We report on investigations of the carrier dynamics in graphene close to the Dirac point by nonlinear terahertz spectroscopy. At terahertz frequencies and low temperatures, optical-phonon scattering is suppressed. In this case, the decay of the pump-induced anisotropy in the carrier distribution is observed to be very slow, long as several ps, which is theoretically explained by non-collinear Coulomb scattering. In Landau-quantized graphene, degenerate four-wave mixing experiments in resonance to the lowest Landau level transition allow us to investigate the induced coherent polarization and to compare its dependence on THz field strength and B-field detuning with theoretical expectations.

In this dissertation, multimode optical fibers (MMFs) have been studied as a robust and practical platform for nonlinear optics and quantum optics applications, where by experimental investigations and theoretical calculations we present the quantum and nonlinear virtue of MMFs as a versatile tool for future applications. Our investigations can be summarized in three parts: At first, we have investigated stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) in a long MMF, where more than 20 orders of cascaded Raman peaks have been generated. Observation of beam clean-up despite the highly multimode nature of the fiber and such strong nonlinear interaction despite the large fiber core size are distinguishable results of our work. Next, we have studied four-wave mixing (FWM) via intermodal phase-matching in both step-index and graded-index MMFs (GIMFs). A rigorous and general approach in the theoretical study is presented where some of the commonly used, yet inaccurate approximations are avoided. Experimentally, FWM side-bands with minimal contamination from SRS, and residual pump photons have been generated from quantum vacuum and amplified more than 11 orders of magnitude. Finally, in the last part of this dissertation, we have done a theoretical study of photon-pair generation in a multimode optical fiber (both step-index and GIMF) via intermodal-FWM as a source of state-engineered photon-pairs.

Correlated light generated from atomic ensembles can have a central role in prominent quantum information protocols, such as long-distance quantum communication. Here we present our studies on three topics involving the generation of correlated light with four-wave mixing (FWM) in a cold atomic ensemble for applications in quantum communications with high capacity. We experimentally investigate the generation of light with seeded FWM in cold cesium atoms and the time correlations of photon pairs generated with spontaneous FWM. We theoretically investigate the correlations in orbital angular momentum of photon pairs generated with spontaneous FWM for a range of experimental geometries. These studies represent foundational work toward the control and measurement of high-dimensional entanglement in the orbital angular momentum degree of freedom photon pairs for use in high-dimensional quantum communication.

Optical phase conjugation is a well-known technique to provide dispersion and nonlinearity compensation directly in the optical domain. The link properties play an important role in the achievable improvements in transmission reach/rate. Here, we review our recent investigations on the impact of sub-optimum transmission links as well as our effort on the implementation of the optical phase conjugator itself looking beyond using highly nonlinear fibers as nonlinear medium and focusing on integrated silicon waveguides. Preliminary results on combining optical phase conjugation with digital techniques such as probabilistic shaping will also be discussed.

Four-wave mixing (FWM) is a versatile optical nonlinear parametric process that enables a plethora of signal processing functionalities in optical communication. Realization of efficient and broadband all-optical signal processing with ultra-low energy consumption has been elusive for decades. Although tremendous efforts have been put into developing various material platforms, it has remained a challenge to obtain both high efficiency and broadband operation. Here, an aluminum gallium arsenide nonlinear chip with high FWM conversion efficiency per length per pump power and an ultra-broad bandwidth is presented. Combining an ultra-high material nonlinearity and strong effective nonlinear enhancement from a high-index-contrast waveguide layout, an ultra-high conversion efficiency of −4 dB is obtained in a 3-mm-long nano-waveguide. Taking advantage of high-order dispersion, a scheme is presented to realize an ultra-broad continuous conversion bandwidth covering 1280–2020 nm. A microresonator is also utilized to demonstrate a conversion efficiency enhancement gain of more than 50 dB with respect to a waveguide device, which significantly reduces the power consumption. Moreover, wavelength conversion of an optical serial data signal is performed at a bit rate beyond terabit-per-second, showing the capabilities of this III-V semiconductor material for broadband optical signal processing.

We propose a silicon strip waveguide structure with alumina thin-film coating in-between the core and the cladding for group-velocity dispersion tailoring. By carefully designing the core dimension and the coating thickness, a spectrally-flattened near-zero anomalous group-velocity dispersion within the telecom spectral range is obtained, which is predicted to significantly broaden the bandwidth of four-wave mixing. We validate this by characterizing the wavelength conversion in a waveguide sample by atomic layer deposition technology, which to our best knowledge is the first experimental demonstration of the proposed structure. Due to the alumina thin-film coating, the wavelength conversion bandwidth reaches $58\sim\mathrm{nm}$, an increase by a factor of 1.3 compared to the corresponding structure without coating. This method can also be applied to other material platforms and applications requiring accurate group-velocity dispersion control.

Single photon sources are a key element for quantum computing, quantum key distribution (QKD) and quantum communications. In particular, producing single photons at telecommunications wavelengths is valuable for QKD protocols and would enable realizing the quantum internet. The preferred method for their generation has long been spontaneous down conversion in bulk crystals, which suffers from connection loss to fiber networks. In-fiber spontaneous four-wave mixing provides a viable alternative as a photon pair source due to being compatible with existing fiber networks. We present an all-fiber photon pair source based on degenerate four-wave mixing in a 400 m Highly-Nonlinear fiber, with signal and idler wavelengths generated at 1552.5 nm and 1557 nm respectively. The source consists of CW pump laser operating at 1554.75 nm, which is slightly detuned from the zero group velocity dispersion wavelength into the normal dispersion regime. After pair generation in the highly-nonlinear fiber, three arrayed waveguide gratings are employed to spatially separate signal and idler, and provides a 120 dB pump power reduction. Firstly the source is modelled and experimentally characterized in the well known classical regime of stimulated four-wave mixing. The effect of fiber cooling on spontaneous Raman scattering is modelled and characterized, and a 30% reduction in spontaneous emission is found when cooling the fiber to −77 C◦ . In the low power regime the coincidence to accidental count ratio is simulated and measured. An increase in the coincidence to accidental count ratio is observed when cooling the fiber.

Using degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM), we have investigated the coherent polarization between the lowest Landau levels in graphene under resonant excitation with narrowband THz pulses. A pronounced DFWM signal is observed and its dependence on THz field strength and magnetic field detuning is explored and compared with theoretical expectations.

Using degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM), we have investigated the coherent polarization between the lowest Landau levels in graphene under resonant excitation with narrowband THz pulses. A pronounced DFWM signal is observed and its dependence on THz field strength and magnetic field detuning is explored and compared with theoretical expectations.

Using degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM), we have investigated the coherent polarization between the lowest Landau levels in graphene under resonant excitation with narrowband THz pulses. A pronounced DFWM signal is observed and its dependence on THz field strength and magnetic field detuning is explored and compared with theoretical expectations.

Thanks to the development of powerful THz sources, both table-top and accelerator-based, highly nonlinear THz investigations of materials are possible today. Here we will present two recent examples of nonlinear spectroscopy on low-dimensional materials: resonant four-wave mixing in graphene under a magnetic field, and nonlinear THz spectroscopy of intersubband transitions in a semiconductor quantum well. Graphene is predicted to be a highly nonlinear material due to its linear dispersion. Clear experimental observations are relatively scarce, however. In a magnetic field, the band structure splits up into non-equidistant Landau levels, giving rise to resonant behavior of the optical properties. We demonstrate resonantly enhanced four-wave-mixing (FWM) at a photon energy of 78 meV, resonant at a magnetic field of B = 4.5 T. The chi(3) character is clearly demonstrated by the power dependence of the four-wave-mixing signal and the narrower line shape as compared to the linear absorption. The FWM signal, proportional to the induced microscopic polarization, decays faster than the also measured pump-probe signal, beyond the time resolution of the experiment (4 ps). Intersubband transitions in quantum wells, due to their similarities to atomic transitions, have been a playground for many fundamental optical and quantum mechanical effects as well as for novel devices for three decades. Nonlinear or quantum optical effects such as dressed states or electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) were demonstrated, however, only in the mid-infrared range or probed in the near infrared. Here we employ our THz free-electron laser (FEL) in combination with THz time-domain spectroscopy to realize a true narrow-band pump – broad-band probe experiment: While pumping the 2-3 intersubband transition in a single GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well (at 3.5 THz = 15 meV), we probe the entire THz absorption up to 4 THz (including 1-2 and 2-3 transitions). The experiment allows one to extract the

Using degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM), we have investigated the coherent polarization between the lowest Landau levels in graphene under resonant excitation with narrowband THz pulses. A pronounced DFWM signal is observed and its dependence on THz field strength and magnetic field detuning is explored and compared with theoretical expectations.

In this paper, we demonstrate wavelength conversion of advanced modulation formats such as 10-GBd 64-QAM and 256-QAM with high conversion efficiency over a 29-nm spectral window by using four-wave mixing in an AlGaAs-On-Insulator (AlGaAsOI) nano-waveguide. A thorough characterization of the wavelength converter is reported, including the optimization of the AlGaAsOI nano-waveguide in terms of conversion efficiency and associated bandwidth and the analysis of the impact of the converter pump quality and power as well as the signal input power. The optimized converter enables generating idlers with optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) above 30 dB over a 29-nm bandwidth leading to error-free conversion of 64-QAM and 256-QAM with OSNR penalty below 1.0 dB and 2.0 dB respectively. The generated idlers exhibit an OSNR margin to the chosen forward error correction thresholds of >3 dB and >7 dB for 64-QAM and 256-QAM, respectively, that can be used for transmission after conversion.

This dissertation is a summary of investigations on the optical properties of a quantum-noise-limited phase-sensitive amplifier (PSA). The PSA is implemented using four-wave mixing in hot Rb 85 vapor based on a double-Lambda atomic scheme. We experimentally demonstrate the ability of a PSA to pre-amplify quantum correlations in twin light beams produced by a phase-insensitive amplifier (PIA) before degradation due to loss and detector inefficiency. By including a PSA before loss, one is able to preserve the correlations as well as the two-mode squeezing level. We compare the results to simulations employing a simple quantum-mechanical model and find a good agreement. We have demonstrated that the cross-correlation between the two modes of a bipartite entangled state can be advanced by propagation through a PIA acting as a fast-light medium. The extra noise added by the PIA has been speculated to be the mechanism that limits the advance of entanglement, preventing the mutual information from traveling superluminally. As an extension of this phase-insensitive, gain-assisted, anomalous dispersion investigation, we explore the advance and delay of information transmitted through the PSA. We start with a two-mode squeezed state created by the PIA and measure the mutual information shared by the correlated quadratures. We then pass one of these two modes through a PSA and investigate the shift of the mutual information as a function of the PSA phase. In the case of a PSA, it is well known that no extra noise will be added to the quadrature with the correct input phase (e.g., the quadrature with the maximal amplification or the maximal deamplification). We find that there is no dispersion-like behavior at these two phases, however, the peak of mutual information could either be delayed or advanced at any other phase. We also observe an almost identical behavior when we input an amplitude modulated signal to the PSA. We are able to explain the physics of this ``fast-and-slo

The rapid development of quantum information technology requires the ability to reliably create and distribute single photons [1]. Photon-pair production through spontaneous four-wave mixing (SpFWM) allows heralded single photons to be generated at communication wavelengths and in fiber, compatible with conventional communication systems, with small losses. Creating single photons in desired quantum states require careful design of waveguide structures. This is greatly facilitated by a general numerical approach as presented here. Additionally, such a numerical approach allows detailed analysis of real systems where all relevent effects are included.

We experimentally investigate post-compensation of nonlinear distortions induced by a wavelength converter (WC) based on four-wave mixing in a semiconductor optical amplifier. The technique exploits a low-complexity digital filter-based back-propagation (DFBP) method. We perform post-compensation of nonlinear distortions following single stage wavelength conversion of 5 Gbaud 64- quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). We examine the DFBP performances in the presence of a degraded optical signal-to-noise ratio at the WC input and we explore the WC optimal operating conditions. Also, we experimentally demonstrate for the first time in the literature dual stage wavelength conversion of QAM signals, in particular, 5 Gbaud 64-QAM, and show that bit error rate below hard-decision forward error correction threshold is only possible with post-compensation of nonlinear distortions. These results are of importance for the development of wavelength routed networks requiring successive wavelength conversion stages to enhance routing capabilities.

Conversion between multi-level modulation formats is one of key processing functions for flexible networking aimed at high spectral efficiency (SE) in optical fiber transmission. The authors previously proposed an all-optical format conversion system from binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) to quadrature PSK (QPSK) and reported an experimental demonstration. In this paper, we consider its reversed conversion, that is, from QPSK to BPSK. The proposed system consists of a highly nonlinear fiber used to generate complex conjugate signal, and a 3-dB directional coupler used to produce converted signals by interfering the incident signal with the complex conjugate signal. The incident QPSK stream is converted into two BPSK tributaries without any loss of transmitting data. We show the system performances such as bit-error-rate and optical signal-to-noise ratio penalty evaluated by numerical simulation.

Flexible conversion between multi-level modulation formats is one of the key processing functions to realize adaptive modulation techniques for flexible networking aimed at high spectral efficiency in optical fiber transmission. The authors have proposed an all-optical format conversion systems from binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) to quadrature PSK (QPSK) and its reverse conversion from QPSK to BPSK. The latter had an advantage of wavelength-shift-free conversion from an incident QPSK to simultaneous two BPSK outputs without loss of the transmitting data. However, it was limited only for a single polarization signal. In this paper, we propose a novel method of wavelength preserved conversion for polarization division multiplexed QPSK signal with arbitrary polarization rotation angle to the x-axis on the x-y polarization plane which is orthogonal to the propagation axis. The method is based on the orthogonal dual-pump four-wave-mixing (FWM) in the highly nonlinear fiber with a nonlinear optical loop mirror configuration, which has advantages that it separately outputs the original signal and the phase conjugate signal and has independent FWM efficiency of the signal polarization angle. We show the system performances such as bit-error-rate and optical signal-to-noise ratio penalty evaluated by numerical simulations.

We experimentally investigate post-compensation of nonlinear distortions induced by a wavelength converter (WC) based on four-wave mixing in a semiconductor optical amplifier. The technique exploits a low-complexity digital filter-based back-propagation (DFBP) method. We perform post-compensation of nonlinear distortions following single stage wavelength conversion of 5 Gbaud 64- quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). We examine the DFBP performances in the presence of a degraded optical signal-to-noise ratio at the WC input and we explore the WC optimal operating conditions. Also, we experimentally demonstrate for the first time in the literature dual stage wavelength conversion of QAM signals, in particular, 5 Gbaud 64-QAM, and show that bit error rate below hard-decision forward error correction threshold is only possible with post-compensation of nonlinear distortions. These results are of importance for the development of wavelength routed networks requiring successive wavelength conversion stages to enhance routing capabilities.

The linear band structure of graphene results in a non-equidistant spectrum of Landau levels (LLs). While transport phenomena have been widely explored after the discovery of graphene in 2004, the ultrafast optical properties of Landau-quantized graphene have been investigated only recently. Predictions of very strong nonlinearities [1], carrier multiplication [2] and Landau-level gain [3] make the system very interesting both from a fundamental and an application-oriented point of view. Here we present experiments complemented by microscopic theory on the population and polarization dynamics in the subsystem of Landau levels -1, 0 and 1. To this end, multilayer epitaxial graphene in a magnetic field of ~4 T is excited resonantly by ps-pulses of mid-infrared radiation (photon energy 75 meV). Applying circularly polarized radiation allows one to pump and probe the energetically degenerate LL-1 → LL0 and LL0 → LL1 transitions selectively. In pump-probe experiments using all four combinations of pumping and probing with right and left circularly polarized radiation, a surprising change in sign of the measured signal (i.e. induced transmission instead of induced absorption) is observed in one of these configurations. Our analysis shows that this can be associated with a depletion of the LL0 level, even though this level is optically pumped at the same time. Very efficient Auger scattering is responsible for this depletion [4]. Furthermore, we show a very recent study of the polarization dynamics in Landau quantized graphene by means of degenerate four-wave mixing (FWM) spectroscopy. It is carried out on the same subsystem of Landau levels and utilizes similar values of magnetic field and photon energy as in the pump-probe experiments. However, the two incoming beams are linearly polarized in the FWM experiment. A rapid dephasing of the microscopic polarization on a timescale shorter than the pulse duration (4 ps) is observed and attributed to Auger scattering. The FWM s

Phase-sensitive four-wave mixing is experimentally demonstrated in a 5-mm long AlGaAsOI nano-waveguide. More than 7 dB of phase-sensitive extinction ratio are reported without neither using active biasing nor polarization-assisted schemes. Measurements show a good match with numerical predictions.

Superconducting quantum circuit models are widely used to understand superconducting devices. This thesis consists of four studies wherein the superconducting quantum circuit is used to illustrate challenges related to quantum information encoding and processing, quantum simulation, quantum signal detection and amplification.The existence of scalar Aharanov-Bohm phase has been a controversial topic for decades. Scalar AB phase, defined as time integral of electric potential, gives rises to an extra phase factor in wavefunction. We proposed a superconducting quantum Faraday cage to detect temporal interference effect as a consequence of scalar AB phase. Using the superconducting quantum circuit model, the physical system is solved and resulting AB effect is predicted. Further discussion in this chapter shows that treating the experimental apparatus quantum mechanically, spatial scalar AB effect, proposed by Aharanov-Bohm, can't be observed. Either a decoherent interference apparatus is used to observe spatial scalar AB effect, or a quantum Faraday cage is used to observe temporal scalar AB effect.The second study involves protecting a quantum system from losing coherence, which is crucial to any practical quantum computation scheme. We present a theory to encode any qubit, especially superconducting qubits, into a universal quantum degeneracy point (UQDP) where low frequency noise is suppressed significantly. Numerical simulations for superconducting charge qubit using experimental parameters show that its coherence time is prolong by two orders of magnitude using our universal degeneracy point approach. With this improvement, a set of universal quantum gates can be performed at high fidelity without losing too much quantum coherence.Starting in 2004, the use of circuit QED has enabled the manipulation of superconducting qubits with photons. We applied quantum optical approach to model coupled resonators and obtained a four-wave mixing toolbox to operate photons stat

Manipulating polarization entanglement of paired photons is always of great interest for understanding the quantum nature of photons and exploring their applications in quantum information processing and quantum communication. Narrowband biphotons with polarization entanglement are especially important for a quantum network based on efficient photon–atom interactions. In most demonstrated cases, the polarization-entangled states are manipulated through the birefringent effect. In this Letter, we produce narrowband polarization-entangled biphotons from spontaneous four-wave mixing in cold atoms and demonstrate a new method to tune the phase of the polarization entanglement by varying the frequency of one of the classical driving lasers. This is achieved through two-photon interference with a path-exchange symmetry. Our result represents a precision control of polarization entanglement from the frequency domain, and may have promising applications in quantum information and precision measurement.

Manipulating polarization entanglement of paired photons is always of great interest for understanding the quantum nature of photons and exploring their applications in quantum information processing and quantum communication. Narrowband biphotons with polarization entanglement are especially important for a quantum network based on efficient photon–atom interactions. In most demonstrated cases, the polarization-entangled states are manipulated through the birefringent effect. In this Letter, we produce narrowband polarization-entangled biphotons from spontaneous four-wave mixing in cold atoms and demonstrate a new method to tune the phase of the polarization entanglement by varying the frequency of one of the classical driving lasers. This is achieved through two-photon interference with a path-exchange symmetry. Our result represents a precision control of polarization entanglement from the frequency domain, and may have promising applications in quantum information and precision measurement.

Four-wave mixing (FWM) is reported in a multiwavelength laser chip manufactured in an indium phosphide generic technology platform. Measured conversion efficiencies are presented for frequency spacing of 100, 200, and 1700 GHz. The frequencies correspond to pairs of activated channels modulo the free spectral range of the on-chip integrated arrayed waveguide grating-based laser. Observed FWM trends are similar to reported efficiencies in traveling-wave amplifiers.

Superconducting quantum circuit models are widely used to understand superconducting devices. This thesis consists of four studies wherein the superconducting quantum circuit is used to illustrate challenges related to quantum information encoding and processing, quantum simulation, quantum signal detection and amplification.The existence of scalar Aharanov-Bohm phase has been a controversial topic for decades. Scalar AB phase, defined as time integral of electric potential, gives rises to an extra phase factor in wavefunction. We proposed a superconducting quantum Faraday cage to detect temporal interference effect as a consequence of scalar AB phase. Using the superconducting quantum circuit model, the physical system is solved and resulting AB effect is predicted. Further discussion in this chapter shows that treating the experimental apparatus quantum mechanically, spatial scalar AB effect, proposed by Aharanov-Bohm, can't be observed. Either a decoherent interference apparatus is used to observe spatial scalar AB effect, or a quantum Faraday cage is used to observe temporal scalar AB effect.The second study involves protecting a quantum system from losing coherence, which is crucial to any practical quantum computation scheme. We present a theory to encode any qubit, especially superconducting qubits, into a universal quantum degeneracy point (UQDP) where low frequency noise is suppressed significantly. Numerical simulations for superconducting charge qubit using experimental parameters show that its coherence time is prolong by two orders of magnitude using our universal degeneracy point approach. With this improvement, a set of universal quantum gates can be performed at high fidelity without losing too much quantum coherence.Starting in 2004, the use of circuit QED has enabled the manipulation of superconducting qubits with photons. We applied quantum optical approach to model coupled resonators and obtained a four-wave mixing toolbox to operate photons stat

Manipulating polarization entanglement of paired photons is always of great interest for understanding the quantum nature of photons and exploring their applications in quantum information processing and quantum communication. Narrowband biphotons with polarization entanglement are especially important for a quantum network based on efficient photon–atom interactions. In most demonstrated cases, the polarization-entangled states are manipulated through the birefringent effect. In this Letter, we produce narrowband polarization-entangled biphotons from spontaneous four-wave mixing in cold atoms and demonstrate a new method to tune the phase of the polarization entanglement by varying the frequency of one of the classical driving lasers. This is achieved through two-photon interference with a path-exchange symmetry. Our result represents a precision control of polarization entanglement from the frequency domain, and may have promising applications in quantum information and precision measurement.

Four-wave mixing (FWM) is reported in a multiwavelength laser chip manufactured in an indium phosphide generic technology platform. Measured conversion efficiencies are presented for frequency spacing of 100, 200, and 1700 GHz. The frequencies correspond to pairs of activated channels modulo the free spectral range of the on-chip integrated arrayed waveguide grating-based laser. Observed FWM trends are similar to reported efficiencies in traveling-wave amplifiers.